As leaked cables about Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi continue to provide more information about the mysterious persona behind the militant ruler, The New York Times has unearthed an unexpected window into his personality: the contents of his bookshelf.

What's more, Colonel Qaddafi maintains a strong interest in American books about public affairs. In one cable, the embassy reported that Colonel Qaddafi assigned trusted aides to prepare Arabic summaries of Fareed Zakaria's "The Post-American World," Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat 3.0," George Soros's "The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror" and President Obama's "The Audacity of Hope." Another of Zakaria's books, "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad," was said to be a Qaddafi favorite."

It remains to be seen whether becoming an official selection of the Qadaffi Book Club will carry the same cache as scoring an Oprah endorsement.

Read the full story at The New York Times.